Catholic School Suspends Teacher for Angry Website

Updated: Friday, 25 Mar 2011, 5:39 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 24 Mar 2011, 11:03 PM EDT

By ANDREA DAY

MYFOXNY.COM - Elizabeth Cucinotta has been teaching at St. Francis Prep School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, for four years but now has been told to pack her things and get out all because of a website she runs on her own time called burnandrotinhell.com .

Elizabeth, who said she loves her teaching job, created the site with her cousin to give people a place to vent. Users select a category and then post a rant, or in this case, a burn.

"I went to a priest and told him the name of the website on two occasions and I was not given any indication that it was going to be a problem," Elizabeth said.

But just days after she got it up and running she says she was called into the principal's office and suspended with pay. She said the "Bad Teachers" and "Bad Students" categories really got the school fired up.

"That this school would do that I'm appalled," she said. "They just suggested I take them down today, which I won't do."

The school issued this statement to Fox 5: "Miss Cucinotta has been suspended pending an investigation for a potential violation of the school's mission and the teacher's obligation to fulfill that mission."

Some students said they agree.

"Any teacher who would actually have the nerve to do that should not be teaching," one student said. Another pupil said it's like encouraging cyberbullying.

"If you look at terms of use for our site, they are more strict than any website out there," said Elizabeth, who has no plans to shut it down. She said it has gotten thousands of hits.

Fox 5 asked her what she has to say to the administrators who suspended her.

"Burn and rot in hell," she said.

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Elizabeth said her bosses at St. Francis told her to expect a letter of termination in the mail.


http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/catholic-school-suspends-teacher-for-angry-website-20110324

I agree with the decision to suspend her.

I think the website was in poor taste and that having a "bad teacher" and "bad student" category is asking for trouble. Having a place to vent isn't the problem, from what I gather from the article, but the category for bad teachers and students is opening up a can of worms and leaving posers and the teacher open to lawsuits. It's one thing to vent in the privacy of a staff room but posting it publically opens it up for lawsuits of slander and other things. I can see why the school would suspend her if she was allowing burns to be posted on fellow students or staff. If names are mentioned, this teacher is in violation of confidentiality agreements, unless things are really different where she lives.

One company I worked for insisted that any information on clients be locked up at all times in a filing cabinet unless we are using that information at the moment. Anything we do on the computer goes onto an encrypted memory stick which is also required to be locked up. I can see why the school took the actions it did. I think the teacher crossed the line when she had a "bad teacher/bad student" category, as that's opening up the doors for cyberbullying and slander.

Impact wrote:

Catholic School Suspends Teacher for Angry Website

Updated: Friday, 25 Mar 2011, 5:39 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 24 Mar 2011, 11:03 PM EDT

By ANDREA DAY

MYFOXNY.COM - Elizabeth Cucinotta has been teaching at St. Francis Prep School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, for four years but now has been told to pack her things and get out all because of a website she runs on her own time called burnandrotinhell.com .

Elizabeth, who said she loves her teaching job, created the site with her cousin to give people a place to vent. Users select a category and then post a rant, or in this case, a burn.

"I went to a priest and told him the name of the website on two occasions and I was not given any indication that it was going to be a problem," Elizabeth said.

But just days after she got it up and running she says she was called into the principal's office and suspended with pay. She said the "Bad Teachers" and "Bad Students" categories really got the school fired up.

"That this school would do that I'm appalled," she said. "They just suggested I take them down today, which I won't do."

The school issued this statement to Fox 5: "Miss Cucinotta has been suspended pending an investigation for a potential violation of the school's mission and the teacher's obligation to fulfill that mission."

Some students said they agree.

"Any teacher who would actually have the nerve to do that should not be teaching," one student said. Another pupil said it's like encouraging cyberbullying.

"If you look at terms of use for our site, they are more strict than any website out there," said Elizabeth, who has no plans to shut it down. She said it has gotten thousands of hits.

Fox 5 asked her what she has to say to the administrators who suspended her.

"Burn and rot in hell," she said.

UPDATE: On Friday afternoon, Elizabeth said her bosses at St. Francis told her to expect a letter of termination in the mail.


http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/catholic-school-suspends-teacher-for-angry-website-20110324

Seriously though....she should have known that was going to get her in trouble. Hell, she can be sued for calling people out like that....depending on how explicit she does it.

Kral wrote:

TSJFan4Ever wrote:

I think the website was in poor taste and that having a "bad teacher" and "bad student" category is asking for trouble. Having a place to vent isn't the problem, from what I gather from the article, but the category for bad teachers and students is opening up a can of worms and leaving posers and the teacher open to lawsuits. It's one thing to vent in the privacy of a staff room but posting it publically opens it up for lawsuits of slander and other things. I can see why the school would suspend her if she was allowing burns to be posted on fellow students or staff. If names are mentioned, this teacher is in violation of confidentiality agreements, unless things are really different where she lives.

One company I worked for insisted that any information on clients be locked up at all times in a filing cabinet unless we are using that information at the moment. Anything we do on the computer goes onto an encrypted memory stick which is also required to be locked up. I can see why the school took the actions it did. I think the teacher crossed the line when she had a "bad teacher/bad student" category, as that's opening up the doors for cyberbullying and slander.

I agree. She was asking to get sued for that.

She hasn't opened herself up to a lawsuit anymore than Chris has. All she did was create a public forum for other people to vent and rant. Has anyone else actually gone on the website? The only thing she's guilty of is monumentaly poor judgement by telling the administration to "Burn and rot in Hell."

You can't sue somebody for freedom of speech. Well, you can't sue somebody and win.

However, the suspension isn't entirely out of line. It does something about her character, as the bad student/teacher section is just uncalled for. And her reaction to the controversy is just unprofessional. The school's job is to employ teachers they feel are appropriate for their students. While I don't think she's all that bad, I can certainly understand why the school chose to fire her.

Seems really bratty and immature on the part of the teacher to set up a slander website like that that's gonna cause dissension and animosity. If i were on the school board i wouldn't be too comfortable having someone who behaves like this in the classroom.